The Wooden Sky at the Independent in Sunderland, England

Toronto’s own Wooden Sky appeared at the Independent in Sunderland on Friday night and if that performance is anything to go by their next release, “Swimming in Strange Waters”, should be outstanding.

Gavin’s voice pair nicely with the other vocalists of the band, which has a way of using typical country elements such as the harmonica, while not sounding country, possibly due to the addition of piano added a level of sensitivity and comfort.

After the show, I managed to have a word with most of the bands four members (I only remember there being three last time) and managed to obtain the set-list that they had forgotten to bring out with them. I just wish I had a pen with me to get them to sign the poster I obtained (see above). Oh, and I might have invited them to the picnic as well.

Set List
Child of the Valley [Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon a Sun]
North Dakota [When Lost at Sea]
Saturday Night [Let’s be ready]
You’re Not Alone [When Lost at Sea]
Black Gold [Swimming in Strange Waters]
Deadhorse Creek [Swimming in Strange Waters]
Write them Down [Let’s be ready]
Take Me Out [Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon a Sun]
SISW {if you know what this is let me know}
Life is Pain, Pain is Beauty [Swimming in Strange Waters]
Something hiding for us in the night [If I don’t come home, you’ll know I’m gone]
OSLO [If I don’t come home, you’ll know I’m gone]
Oh my god (it still means a lot to me) [If I don’t come home, you’ll know I’m gone]

I have could only create a partial playlist because neither Spotify or Soundcloud have all of the bands current albums and I can’t find the upcoming one.

The support act came in the form of local lad Davey Lee Burdon (under the name DL BURDON). Best known for his stints in Leatherface, Former Cell Mates and, Anchor Bends, 2017 has already seen him release “Accidental Aesop”.Accidental Aesop by D L Burdon

Joe Collins, one sixth of local band Lilliput, performed an all too brief four-song opening acoustic set.

14 Comments

Essentially the Toronto singer* is not happy that his fourth studio album Views was placed in the best rap album category at last week’s Grammys, which was won by Chance The Rapper’s Coloring Book.

Drake won Best Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Performance for Hotline Bling. However, speaking during an interview with DJ Semtex on OVO radio, Drizzy said the track is not rap at all and that he’s only actually in that category because of the colour of his skin.

“Even though Hotline Bling is not a rap song… the only category they can manage to fit me in is a rap category” he said. “Maybe because I’ve rapped in the past or because I’m black, I can’t figure out why… I won two awards – but I don’t even want them, because it just feels weird for some reason.”

One man who certainly is a rapper (when he’s not busy at politics) is Kanye West and Drake is not happy with him either.

During a gig last year Kanye dissed Drake and DJ Khaled, claiming their music was overplayed on radio stations.

He said: “I think everybody has their own little things going on, I’m not really sure what he’s referring to half the time, ’cause in the same breath, I went from being…like working on a project with him, to him sorta publicly ******** on me and DJ Khaled for being on the radio too much.”